Agencies will be expected to measure transparency results

GSA's Dave McClure said agencies will devise metrics based on input from ground-level workers. James Kegley

The forthcoming open government directive will dictate that each agency come up with a process for measuring the outcomes of transparency efforts, a top General Services Administration official said on Monday.

The White House as soon as two weeks from now will issue a directive based on recommendations developed by the federal chief technology officer in concert with GSA and the Office of Management and Budget. President Obama during his first day in office instructed these entities to compose guidance that would direct agencies on how to establish a collaborative, participatory and transparent government using new technologies.

But observers have questioned how the administration -- and the public -- will know that transparency is having a beneficial effect on government services. To find out, the administration will require agencies to lay out expectations for results and to ensure there is a system in place to measure those outcomes, said Dave McClure, the new GSA associate administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, in an interview.

The directive will "spell out a need for a process for each agency to do this," added McClure, who spent 18 years at the Government Accountability Office, monitoring federal IT capital planning and investments. He said agencies will devise metrics based on input from ground-level workers, rather than have an oligarchy of officials issue a top-down grading system.

McClure, along with federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, spoke on Monday about hardwiring collaborative tools into the federal workplace at a Washington conference for government and private sector decision-makers. The event, Excellence in Government, was sponsored by Government Executive .

Each agency will have to develop an open government plan that is "explicitly tethered to the key outcome goals of agencies," Chopra said during the discussion. This spring, he took on the unprecedented position of governmentwide CTO, through which he has direct access to the president and also reports to the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

"This will not be another check-the-box exercise for some paperwork activity," Chopra said. "This needs to be built in to the core DNA of how our government operates."

Under the directive, the government also will continue building a set of Web platforms that foster open government, such as Data.gov. The site, launched in May, warehouses raw federal statistics for third parties to download and reuse on their own commercial or nonprofit sites.

On Monday, Data.gov began feeding to the public the content of the Federal Register -- a daily, text-heavy log of executive branch rulings and regulatory updates published by the National Archives and Records Administration.

"Whether you visit the NARA Web site, I could care less ... I could care less how many hits it gets," Chopra said. "By making it machine readable and by exposing its core elements we will simplify mash-ups of every sort."

The directive acknowledges there are policy barriers hindering engagement and collaboration on the Internet, and "we will tackle them head on," he added.

Employees and watchdogs have long urged federal officials to modify rules under the pre-Internet era Paperwork Reduction Act, which requires agencies to wait months for public comment and government approval before collecting information from citizens online.

The White House also might lift a ban on persistent cookies -- software programs that are deposited on a visitor's computer to collect information on usage of federal sites. The 2000 cookie policy was conceived to protect privacy, but even some White House officials now say it hampers outreach.

One example of an open-government tactic already in practice is IdeaFactory, a site where Transportation Security Administration employees voice their suggestions for improving the oft-criticized agency. To date, TSA, part of the Homeland Security Department, has implemented 50 of the ideas submitted to enhance job satisfaction, security and customer service, said Tina Cariola, program manager for IdeaFactory. She also spoke at the event. DHS plans to roll out the concept across the department in early 2010.

During the panel, McClure announced several new GSA initiatives, including changes and updates to the federal home page USA.gov. Currently, the office oversees the government's public outreach and programs that connect citizens to government information, such as USA.gov .

"The strategy behind USA.gov has been redirecting," he said. "We want to move from redirection to getting citizens to services ... as fast as possible."

In addition, the department is constructing a public Web site aimed at helping agencies obtain feedback from citizens. According to McClure, the platform will provide tools, methods, case studies and examples of how governments worldwide are relying on citizens to improve policy and accountability. The site is expected to launch within the next few months.

Online citizen engagement "is not an area where you can build something and then just hope people will come," McClure said.